The Support Ate it All - Chapter 575: Dang Family (3)

Even after the twins left, Dang Gyu-young kept grinning with a face still bright red.

“Pfft-heh-heh-heh.”

“Are you that happy?”

“Heh-heh-heh-heh.”

Well, they had landed a triple combo: “in a relationship with a promised future,” “I’m sincere,” and “no cancellations.”

After we gave them a moment, they took a deep breath and asked,

“So? How were my brothers?”

“They seemed fine.”

“Felt like they were a bit harsh on you. Even so, that was a first meeting.”

“They were probably worried about you.”

“They’ve always looked out for me. I wondered if they’d changed over the years… but thank goodness. They’re the same.”

Dang Gyu-young looked quietly relieved.

Being hated by people you used to be close to was something anyone would find hard to endure.

Even if you came prepared for it, it would still leave a wound.

Maybe that was why they’d cut contact with the Dang family all this time.

Thankfully, the twins seemed to be on our side—but this was only the beginning.

So far, the people we’d met amounted to a handful of household staff, the clan head, and a few cousins.

Compared to the Dang family as a whole, it was barely a pinch.

And most of the remaining household staff were probably on the “negative side” we were worried about.

Dang Gyu-young seemed to know that too, but just shrugged like it was nothing.

“Let’s go in for now.”

As expected, the inside of the guest annex was spotless.

It was on the level of a luxury resort or a hotel suite.

Dang Gyu-young picked one of the rooms and said,

“This is our room.”

“Why is it ‘our’ room?”

“What’s wrong with ‘our’ room?”

“I was thinking it should be separated. My room, your room, and the sloth’s room.”

Seo Ye-in and Dang Gyu-young looked at each other, then answered in unison.

“Our room.”

“It’s our room.”

“That’s our bed.”

“And you’re our pillow. Let me use you too. She’s been using you the whole time.”

So they’d already decided.

There was no real reason it couldn’t happen—this was the usual, after all—but I could feel my contrarian streak kicking in anyway.

I spoke in an anxiously worried Kim Ho tone.

“Didn’t your cousins warn us? No promiscuous behavior.”

I was pretty sure they’d also said they’d demonstrate the Dang family’s vicious hidden weapons on my body.

Dang Gyu-young and Seo Ye-in looked at each other again.

Then, with faces that said they genuinely didn’t understand, they traded questions and answers.

“Promiscuous? What are we doing?”

“Nothing.”

“We’re just sleeping together and holding hands. Completely wholesome.”

“Family-friendly.”

Maybe because they shared the same objective—protecting the Kim Ho pillow—they were perfectly in sync.

I tried pushing back one more time.

“Even if we’re wholesome, won’t it look different to third parties? I think we should be mindful for a while.”

Of course, it didn’t work on Dang Gyu-young or Seo Ye-in in the slightest.

“Those people will see it differently no matter what we do. If you worry about it, you lose.”

“A bold heart.”

“Sleeping well is more important than trivial stuff like that.”

“Quality sleep comes first.”

“Should we resume normal operations?”

“Kim Ho pillow.”

A combined attack from the two that even the Dang twins wouldn’t dare approach.

I nodded like I was giving in.

“Understood. If that’s what you both want.”

“Since you brought it up, lie down for a second.”

Dang Gyu-young and Seo Ye-in laid me down on “our bed,” then each took a spot.

Then, in voices that had suddenly turned lazy and soft, they spoke.

“Hey. What’s this pillow made of? Just touching it makes me sleepy.”

“Sleep’s drifting in……”

“Suddenly I don’t feel like doing anything. Should we tour the house later?”

“Schedule canceled……”

Dang Gyu-young looked at me and started rationalizing.

“They already told us all the most important restricted zones, and we’re going to be going back and forth between the training grounds and the guest annex anyway.”

“That’s true.”

“The only things left are, like, the armory or the medicine hall. Do you have any business there? Like making something.”

“Not right now.”

“Perfect. Let’s rest.”

“Agreed. I’ll do this while we’re at it.”

I pulled a tightly rolled parchment out of my Inventory.

A magical pattern made up the background, but there wasn’t a single word written on it.

[Blank Trait Scroll]

Both ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) of them immediately showed interest.

Dang Gyu-young’s eyes sparkled as they asked,

“You’re making a trait?”

“Yes. I’m going to get it done now.”

I’d obtained it right after finals, but I’d held onto it for a while instead of using it immediately.

It was rarer than a blank skillbook, so I needed to use it carefully.

But now I had a rough outline.

I was going to start training soon anyway, and if I wanted to work ranks, making it now was the best play.

Dang Gyu-young asked again,

“Can we watch?”

“I don’t mind.”

Even if you were close, it was usually best to hide your skills and traits as much as possible.

Otherwise, someone could exploit your weaknesses.

But we weren’t just “close.”

Dang Gyu-young looked at me and grinned.

“Because we formed a [Bond]?”

“At this point, we may as well be considered one body. And even without that, you’re both trustworthy.”

“Heh. That was nice just now.”

Most importantly, the trait I was about to craft wasn’t the kind that created a weakness in the first place.

So, with Dang Gyu-young and Seo Ye-in watching, I used the blank scroll.

—FWOOOSH—

The parchment glowed blue with mana, and the empty space began filling with letters.

“Assuming, as a baseline, that I’m going to piss people off.”

That was a supporter’s duty—and my identity.

Next was deciding how to piss them off.

“My main attributes right now are wind and freezing.”

If I dug deeper, it was “forced movement” and “slow.”

“Slow is already strong enough.”

With Ice Wall shots, chain explosions, Mutual Destruction Eye, and—most importantly—stacking Hyuneumokmaji.

“Forced movement, on the other hand, feels kind of scattered.”

I had plenty of linked skills and traits, but not many actually affected Wind Force directly.

A rank bonus through Blessing of the West Wind, and the “weathering” status effect from Mutual Destruction Eye—that was it.

Twister and Sylphid added utility, but they didn’t help much with raw power.

“Against the same year, it still works pretty well.”

Mainly because I was usually one or two ranks above them, and most of their builds weren’t finished yet.

But they would keep growing.

“And I won’t only be fighting the same year forever.”

I’d be clearing higher-tier dungeons, and starting in second year, I’d be taking dispatch missions too.

I had to assume I’d run into enemies at my level—or stronger.

“Once someone’s around mid A-rank, you basically can’t move them.”

They’d have at least two or three ways to resist forced movement.

But giving up like this wasn’t an option when Wind Force was so valuable.

And there were tons of linked moves worth learning in the future.

It was a far better choice to fix it and keep using it.

So what kind of trait should I make?

The answer was simple.

“Penetration.”

If I made their resistance tools meaningless, that was that.

[You have learned ‘Movement Command (F)’.]

[Movement Command (F)]

▷Ignores 1 rank of the target’s forced movement resistance.

▷Ignores 1 additional rank every 3 minutes.

Take something like [Thousand-Pound Anchor], a staple martial-artist class move that Han So-mi and Dam Daehan used.

If a target was maintaining a B-rank Thousand-Pound Anchor, trying to shove them with B-rank Wind Force wouldn’t budge them.

But now that I had Movement Command, it ignored one rank—meaning it was like pushing a C-rank Thousand-Pound Anchor.

And with a 3-minute cooldown, I could ignore one more rank and drop it to D-rank.

On top of that, it ignored “all” forced movement resistance, so even if they had multiple sources—skills, traits, gear—everything got the 1+1 penetration applied.

“It’s even a growth type.”

The 1+1 and 3 minutes were at F-rank standards.

As the rank rose, the cooldown would drop and the penetration would increase.

“The future of forced-movement support is bright.”

Feeling pleased, I looked over at Dang Gyu-young and Seo Ye-in.

They were giving me looks that weren’t exactly friendly.

They muttered loud enough for me to hear.

“You made another you-trait.”

“Bad trait.”

“Who are you going to harass with that?”

“Bad Kim Ho.”

Both of them had been on the receiving end of my wind magic, so it was hard for them to like it.

But like it or not, it was already crafted—and learned.

So I pulled out my trump card and swung it.

“It’s all for world peace. Please try to understand.”

“World peace has to be done with that? There are plenty of other methods.”

“There aren’t.”

“What are you talking about? There aren’t?”

“There aren’t. Not if I want it to be fun.”

“……”

“Ugh, I don’t know. Do whatever you want.”

Dang Gyu-young seemed to give up and focus on resting comfortably instead.

They leaned their head against the Kim Ho pillow, shifted around, and quietly closed their eyes.

Just as they were about to drift off—

—TATATATAT!

Someone’s footsteps came rapidly closer.

They stopped right in front of the room and knocked.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK,

Dang Gyu-young pinched their brows and looked at Seo Ye-in.

“Isn’t this timing seriously brutal?”

“Don’t interrupt……”

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK,

“Sis, it’s me!”

A young girl’s voice from the other side of the door.

I exchanged a glance with Dang Gyu-young.

“Looks like someone came looking for you. Who is it?”

“I don’t know… I’ve got a feeling, but it’s fuzzy. It’s been years. Anyway, I should go out.”

We couldn’t exactly slam the door in someone’s face when we already knew why they were here.

So even while grumbling, we got up and opened the door.

A young girl stood there, matching the voice.

She looked about my age and Seo Ye-in’s—maybe a year or two younger.

And in some ways, she resembled Dang Ilbi and Dang Hanbi, the brothers we’d met earlier.

Dang Gyu-young stared at her for a moment, then raised their eyes.

“Huh? You’re Eunbi—”

“Siiiiis!!”

The girl immediately threw herself into Dang Gyu-young’s arms and started whining nonstop.

“Why did you only come now…… I missed you so much…….”

“…Sorry. I’m late. I missed you too.”

Dang Gyu-young froze for a second at the sudden tackle-hug, but then gently patted her back.

A moment later, after she’d calmed down a bit, they separated.

Dang Gyu-young introduced her.

“She’s my cousin. Our brothers’ little sister.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Dang Eunbi.”

The childish side from a moment ago was gone, replaced by the formal manners of someone from a prestigious clan.

Then Dang Gyu-young pointed at the two of us.

“These are my juniors. They’re going into second year.”

“Then you’ll be my seniors soon. I’m enrolling next year.”

Dang Eunbi’s eyes sparkled as she looked at Seo Ye-in.

It was obvious she was already swelling with admiration.

“I heard a guest was coming from Hyeseong Group, so maybe…?”

“Yeah.”

“Wow! I heard the new city is super refined. How is it?”

“…? My house.”

“If you live there, you might not notice it. I really want to visit someday.”

Seo Ye-in looked like they didn’t need any of this and just wanted to go back to sleep, but Dang Eunbi didn’t notice at all, chattering as she fired off questions.

Meanwhile, she barely looked my way at all, which made Dang Gyu-young tilt their head like they found it odd.

Maybe they thought she was shy with strangers, because they introduced me again.

“And this is Kim Ho. Not just a junior… someone a bit closer than that.”

“……”

Only then did Dang Eunbi slowly turn her head to look at me.

She was trying not to show it, but the eyes that had been full of admiration a moment ago had turned abruptly cold.

“…Please take care of me.”

So she hadn’t been shy—she’d been ignoring me on purpose.

Looks like the Dang cousins don’t like me.